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Saturday, August 03, 2019
A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY - " NOCHE DEL EMBRUJO "
SATURDAY 3rd/ AUGUST 2019. “ NOCHE DEL EMBRUJO “
We managed a nice lie in this morning after
a cooler, but still very hot night, we had more sleep than normal, after
freshening up Brenda was on the breakfast rota so we had her famous ‘ Campo’
Poached Eggs on Toast, Scrambled for her, on brown, with mugs of strong tea, to
set us up for the day ahead.
‘Chico’ who is very easy to look after, he
spent the night on the marble floor under our bed, he then went for his first
walk of the day, with Brenda’ round the bottom of the village, before it got
too hot, he’s eating well and into his routine, sadly little princess ‘Reina’
is not with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ this afternoon, for a sleep-over as
Daniela’s mother is not well, back at their home, so she’s looking after her, on
Monday & Tuesday little ‘Miss Bella’
is back with us, as well as ‘Scruffy’ in the afternoons, ‘Chispa’ has all ready
been in to see us and her friend.
Yesterday evening we spent the night in the
fresh air, sat outside ‘ Bar Castillo’ for a nice light ‘ Tapas’ supper,
watching the ‘World’ go by, with nice cool drinks, later our friends from
around the bottom of our street Jo and her husband Mike joined us, they are the
couple who recommended us to ‘ A Home in the Sun’ as it was their house that
was on the programme, we ended up having a nice long chat, and more drinks,
thanks, as we discovered that we have a lot more in common, with a past life and career
in the Hotel & Restaurant business!
This evening it’s the “ Noche Del Embrujo –
Night of Enchancment “ which all the
finalizing work is taking place, at the moment, up and along in Calle Mar’- special street lighting etc, this year there
is a programme and times, it’s getting more professional, we are going to try
and get a seat, as usual, outside ‘ Bar Castillo’ – watch this space.
After a slightly cooler night, this morning
the sun was out first thing and the sky is blue and clear, by lunchtime it will
reach 31 degs+ up to 34 degs + tomorrow, next week is looking very hot and
sunny all week, hovering in the low 30s,
at times up to 36 degs+ (Wednesday) – overnight down in the low 20s, we are in
for a ‘HOT-ONE’ to say the least, watch this space.
We have now arranged a ‘ Skype’ video link
up with Sandra & Bill, over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, on Monday evening,
as the folks have a busy weekend, out & about with their trailer!
On the sports front this weekend; we will
be watching the Horse Racing from ‘ Glorious Goodwood’ - which has been on all week, then later we
will catch the Qualifying’ from the ‘Hungarian Grand Prix’
Then tomorrow we will be back into our ‘Hot’
routine, keeping as cool as possible, drinking lots of cold water, all the fans
on, light clothes, staying in the shade,
with all the dogs, eating as little as we need, ‘Positive Thinking’ at all
times!
Thoughts for the Day; See above.
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Friday, August 02, 2019
A EXTREMELY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF ANOTHER FESTIVAL WEEKEND.
FRIDAY 2nd/ AUGUST 2019.
I was up early this morning and after a
quick freshen up I shot off on my travels, down to Sabinillas for the weekly
shopping, I called into ‘ ItZabar’ for my usual toast & tea ,before ‘ Mercadona’
opened, which was ‘ Mega’ busy, I then stopped at the ‘ English Bookshop’ for
the local English newspapers, before dropping down to the far-end of the promenade
to the local market, for our fresh flowers and some wall plants, before finally
calling into ‘ Super Sol’ for our English essentials.
Back at the house Brenda took ‘ Chico’ out
for his first walk of the day, before it gets too hot, he’s settled in very
well, as usual, yesterday evening when we came back from our supper at ‘ Bar
Castillo’ he shot up stairs and went to bed, under our bed on the marble floor,
and slept there all night, he goes up when he’s ready! This afternoon ‘ Scruffy’
is back with us for few hours, little princess ‘Reina’ is now joining us for
her sleep-over tomorrow lunchtime, ‘Chispa’ will be calling in & out as
usual to see all her friends!
Last night was the hottest so far, we didn’t
get much sleep we were very hot and ‘ sweating’ a lot, we put towels on the
pillows and sheets, to help a little, with, off course with the fans on, the
sun was out first thing this morning and the sky is clear and blue, with just a
very slight breeze, so by lunchtime it’s going to reach 32 degs+ - overnight
hovering on the 22 degs mark, tomorrow is going to be the same, for the ‘ Noche
del Embrujo – Night of Enchancement ’ – which the ‘ Council & Contractors’ workmen
are preparing, five stages, new decorations and lighting systems etc, more bits
on Saturday, then on Sunday it’s going a little hotter, all of next week it’s
in the low 30s, up to 35 degs+ on Wednesday and by next Saturday 36 degs+ -
watch this space.
Over the past couple of days two boats have
tied up at ‘Raynes Quarry’ at Llanddulas in North Wales, for their cargo of
crushed stone, first the ‘ Peru ‘ and then ‘
Amadelis Amethist’ - which you can see
before and after loading!
Before;
And after!
On Wednesday evening we watched the next ‘
Remarkable Places to Eat ‘ as Michel Roux Jr, first went to the World famous ‘
La Tour D’Argent’ in Paris, resting a little bit on it’s ‘ Laurels’ after loosing
two ‘Michelin’ stars, now down to one only! He had the classic ‘Canard a la
Presse’ which has been on the menu since the 19th century! ( 130
Euros per head!) The ‘ Duck’ waiter carved the whole ‘herb’ infused Roasted
Duck, taking off the Legs for second course later, he then slices the breast,
no skin, then presses the Duck carcass, bones and skin, in the ‘Silver Duck
Press’ the juices are then thickened and flavoured to taste, with Cognac/Madeira
etc, later the Duck Leg came back, as very modern version of ‘ Confit of Duck! The guest receives a ‘ Postcard’ with the
birds serial number, now well over a million! The ‘Wine List’ has over 15,000,
wines on offer, and is nearly a foot thick! The cellars are guarded around the
clock and the ‘ Head Sommelier’ is English!
See below a ‘ Silver Duck Press’ - the Restaurant on the top floor of the
building and a ‘ Postcard’
Many years ago, back in the mid 60s I was
shown how to serve the same dish, in the Restaurant of the ‘ Stork Hotel’- by
the ‘ Maitre ‘d’hotel’ - Mr Oliver, and in other famous Restaurant’s around the
North West, the whole Duck was carved at the table, with the Legs going off to
become a plain ‘ Confit of Duck’ later,
the breast was carved ‘ skin on’ - a lot harder to keep the slice just right,
with a thin topping of ‘ crisp duck skin’! I was shown how to do it by my Uncle, a ‘
Master Carver’ – along with many other carving skills, of Beef, Joints on the
bone, Legs of Lamb, Whole Turkey, Ham Joints, Suckling Pigs, as
well as Smoked Salmon on the board! Then
the crushed Duck juices were made into a ‘Jus Roti’ style sauce, not thickened!
See below the ‘ Stork Hotel’ in it’s ‘ Hey
Day’!
This evening we are going back along to ‘
Bar Castillo ‘ to take in the fresh air and sit outside for a nice cool drink
and a light ‘Tapas’ supper, again!
Thoughts for the Day; See above.
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Thursday, August 01, 2019
A VERY ' CLOSE' & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.
THURSDAY 1st/ AUGUST 2019.
We had another nice long lie in this
morning, the last for a while, as we are very busy all over August, in ‘ Doggy
World Heaven ‘ - as usual ‘Scruffy’ is with us this afternoon for a few hours,
then in the early evening ‘ Chico’ arrives for his nearly three weeks holiday,
then tomorrow morning little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us for sleep-over
until Saturday evening.
During August we also have ‘Sunny’ now
coming to stay with us for a couple of short breaks as well as ‘Pucci’ – who is
now also back with us over Christmas and into the New Year, after ‘ Charlie’s’
very sad loss.
After freshening up we had our regular
light breakfast of fresh fruit (Bananas) toast & tea, we then got the
shopping list ready, as tomorrow morning I’m out on my travels, down to
Sabinillas, for our weekly shopping. Brenda is pottering and I’m up in the
office/studio on the ‘WWW’ before I type/post today’s Blog.
We had another very hot night, this morning
the sun was out early and the sky was clear with a few patchy clouds, there is
a light breeze, by lunchtime it will reach 28 degs+ - tomorrow a lot hotter, up
to 33 degs+ as the breeze drops, then over the weekend it’s staying at 33/34
degs, then next week is going to be a ‘ SCORTCHER’ as it’s staying in the mid
30s, up to 36 degs+ by next Thursday! Over next weekend we are in for more of the
same, hovering in the mid 30s, only down to 21/22 degs during the night, watch
this space.
This evening, as the staff have been given
the night off, we are going along, later, to ‘Bar Castillo’ for a light ‘Tapas’
supper, with ‘ Chico’ – after his first little walk, then when we return we
will catch up with all the news on the TV, which for now is back to normal,
yesterday we had a nice ‘ newsy’ message on ‘Facebook’ messenger for Sandra
& Bill, over in Everett, Ontario, Cananda, catching up with all their news,
of course all our news is on the Blog! We are arranging a ‘ Skype’ video link
up soon, watch this space.
The ' Countdown' begins!
Thoughts for the Day; See above.
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